Among the highlights in the December 1997 Cancer Watch issue are: Organochlorine and Breast Cancer Risk, Shorter Treatment for non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Radiosurgery for Meningiomas, HPV Vaccines for Cervical Cancer, Second-hand Smoke Does Increase Lung Cancer Risk, Drugs to Modulate Apoptosis, Caffiene Alters Plasma Adenosine Levels, Cancer Susceptibility: Impact of the Environment, Improvements in the Management of Sarcomas, Nucleic Acid-Based Cancer Detection Methods, Hycamtin to Treat Small Cell Lung Cancer, Adjuvant Therapy for Nearly All Early Stage Breast Cancer, Calcium Channel Blocker and Breast Cancer Risk and Alcohol and Oral Cancer.

• Organochlorine and Breast Cancer Risk
• Shorter Treatment for non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
• Radiosurgery for Meningiomas
• HPV Vaccines for Cervical Cancer
• Second-hand Smoke Does Increase Lung Cancer Risk
• Drugs to Modulate Apoptosis
• Caffiene Alters Plasma Adenosine Levels

• Certain individuals are susceptible to cancer because of their genetic makeup which is activated only through environmental insults such as smoking, diet and pollutants. This type of cancer risk is highly preventable.

• Sarcomas are associated with a dismal prognosis; all forms have a high recurrence rate, metastases occur in over 60 percent of patients and 5 year survival is generally less then 50 percent (depending on the degree of differentiation). Radical surgery and amputation are historically the treatment of choice. In the last decade, there is some improvement in the treatment of most bone and soft tissue sarcomas due to the introduction of combination therapies. Some forms (such as localized or regional pleiomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma) can even be cured.

• Accumulated genetic mutations eventually express as cancer. Since defect is in the DNA what better markers could be developed to detect early cancer onslaught than DNA-based markers. Researchers are collecting information on specific genetic mutations for various cancer types and affordable sensitive methods to detect these changes in the DNA are at present limiting the use of DNA markers for early detection and thus for preventive intervention for high-risk individuals.

• Topotecan hydrochloride (Hycamtin) which is not currently recommended for small cell lung cancer is found to be as effective as other chemotherapeutic agents in treating this cancer. It is found to be promising as a first- and second-line agent singly or in combination with other agent.

• A five-year follow-up study of a clinical trial on adjuvant therapy for breast cancer suggests that postsurgical chemotherapy in combination with tamoxifen improves disease-free survival and overall survival of patients irrespective of age, lymph node status, tumor size, or estrogen receptor status. Though individualized adjuvant therapy is desirable, at this time not enough dependable biomarkers are available to exclude any subgroup from receiving this treatment.

• Use of calcium channel blockers for heart disease among postmenopausal women may increase the rate of breast cancer particularly if they are also taking estrogen.

• Alcohol itself is not carcinogenic, but its consumption is linked to the development of oral cancer. Several mechanisms may be involved with this association; one seems to be the production of aldehyde from alcohol which is a known carcinogen. Excessive oral microorganism can convert alcohol to aldehyde. Another source of elevated aldehyde level is due to the activity of a special fast metabolizing alcohol dehydrogenase that converts alcohol to aldehyde at high speed. Certain individuals inherit the gene of this fast acting enzyme.

Glossary

• A glossary of unfamiliar words and jargons in Cancer Watch, July-December 1997.